Just how well do you know the US women's national team?
Even the most hard-core USWNT fan – and there are many, many of those – will probably learn something new about the three-time world champions and four-time Olympic gold-medal winners via their new “WNT Animated” project, released on US Soccer's website on Monday.
Created in partnership with Chicago's Calabash Animation, “WNT Animated” is a series of 19 animated videos, each one featuring one of the 18 players on the team's roster for next month's 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro plus one for head coach Jill Ellis. The videos depict stories and experiences from the players' lives, providing entertaining windows into their personality and background.
Defender Meghan Klingenberg reveals how she and a few of her college teammates dodged an hours-long line and bluffed their way into the University of North Carolina's famous “midnight madness” basketball event during her NCAA career, while Allie Long recounts the time she played the supersub role for her fiance's futsal team in a gritty grudge match in Queens.
Teenage phenom Mallory Pugh explains how she and a friend got into some painful trouble with an unused bicycle hanger in the garage on a slow summer day, while Ellis wryly tells a tale about a flock of peacocks (yes, peacocks) she and her family inherited when they moved into their house in Florida (see video above).
But beware: Anyone with even a passing interest in the team may struggle to tear themselves away from the project's home page. Though each is only a few minutes in length, the videos capture the spirit of the people wearing the badge in a way that is rare for even such a high-profile team.
Find the full series of animations on the USSF site, or check them out on the federation's YouTube page.
The USWNT begin the home stretch of their quest for an unprecedented fifth gold medal when they open their Olympic campaign vs. New Zealand on Aug. 3.
